The Plain Dealer (newspaper)

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Front Page of The Plain Dealer
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Advance Publications
(Newhouse Newspapers)
Editor Doug Clifton
Founded 1842
Headquarters Plain Dealer Plaza
1801 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114-2198
Flag of United States United States
Website: www.cleveland.com
www.plaindealer.com

The Plain Dealer is the major daily newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio. It also has the largest circulation of any Ohio newspaper, and is a top 20 newspaper for circulation in the United States.[1] The Plain Dealer currently boasts more than 785,000 readers on weekdays and 1 million readers on Sunday.[2] The Plain Dealer reported an average daily paid circulation of 336,939 for the six-month period ending in September, 2006.[3] The Plain Dealer's media market, Greater Cleveland, is ranked #1 in the country for Sunday newspaper readership percentage (75.4% of total adults) and #2 in daily newspaper readership percentage (62.6% of total adults), second only to New York City in the weekday editions.[4]

Contents

[edit] History and Ownership

The newspaper was established in 1842, less than 50 years after Moses Cleaveland landed on the banks of the Cuyahoga River in The Flats, and is currently owned by Advance Publications (Newhouse Newspapers).[5] The Plain Dealer is under the direction of Terrance C.Z. Egger, who serves as President and Publisher, Robert M. Long, Executive Vice President, as well as Douglas C. Clifton, who is the current Editor. Clifton announced his pending retirement to be effective June 1, 2007, and no replacement has yet been named.[6] The paper employs over 1,500 people.[7] The paper is referred to in short by Clevelanders as the "P.D.," as well as the "PeeDee" (the latter sometimes in a derogatory manner by critics of the paper).

The newspaper was sold on March 1, 1967 to S.I. Newhouse's newspaper chain, and has been under the control of the Newhouse family ever since.[8] The paper was previously held by the trusts of the Holden estate, and operated as The Plain Dealer Publishing Company, part of the Forest City Publishing Company, which also published the Cleveland News until its purchase and subsequent closure by its major competitor, the Cleveland Press, owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, in 1960.[9]

On December 18, 2005, The Plain Dealer ceased publication of its weekly Sunday Magazine, which had been published uninterrupted for over 85 years.[10] The demise of the paper's Sunday Magazine was attributed to the high cost of newsprint and declining revenue, and the PD reassigned the editors, designers, and reporters to other areas of the newspaper. It also assured readers that the stories that would formerly have appeared in the Sunday Magazine would be integrated into other areas of the paper.

In January 2007, Editor Doug Clifton announced his retirement, effective in June. Publisher Terry Egger is currently searching for his replacement.

[edit] Awards

In 2005, Connie Schultz won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.[11] It was the first Pulitzer for The Plain Dealer since 1953.[12] Schultz announced a self-imposed sabbatical from her column in February 2006, to work on her husband Congressman Sherrod Brown's (successful) run for U.S. Senate.[13] Schultz will return to print in January, 2007.[14]

Other recent awards have included a "2003 Editor of the Year" honor for Doug Clifton, given by Editor & Publisher, the industry newsletter. E&P cited Clifton's efforts to energize The Plain Dealer's reporters and newsroom as quick and extremely successful; they had been languishing for years beforehand.

[edit] Pricing, distribution, circulation

The daily paper costs 50 cents at the newsstand, 41 cents for home delivery, and the Sunday edition is $1.50 for newsstand or home delivery. These prices only apply to The Plain Dealer's home delivery area, which are the Northeast Ohio counties of Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Erie, Ottawa, Summit, Ashtabula, Medina and Lorain. The Plain Dealer is however, available all over the state at the newsstand, including the state capital, Columbus, and anywhere in the US or world via US mail service. The Plain Dealer currently has a total circulation of 342,061 on weekdays and 457,052 on Sunday.[15]

[edit] Bureaus

The Plain Dealer operates a variety of news bureaus. In addition to its local metro reporters and columnists, The Plain Dealer operates a bureau in Columbus, at the state capital, that focuses on state-wide news and reporting. The P.D. also operates a Washington bureau that reports on national news and events, focusing on the actions of and stories relating to the Ohio delegation in the U.S. Congress.

[edit] Major sections

The Plain Dealer is organized into several major sections, depending on the day of the week. The Sunday edition is, as with any major U.S. daily newspaper, the largest edition of the week.

Major sections printed on most editions include:

[edit] All editions

News 
Includes Front Page, International, and National News (including Washington, D.C.).
Metro 
Local news for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, obituaries and death notices, local, national and international weather, as well as Opinion and Forum, the paper's opinion, letters to the editor, and editorial commentary section.
Business 
Local and national business news, stocks, bonds.
Sports 
Cleveland and National Sports News and Commentary. The sports section focuses its "beat reporters" on the Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians, in addition to heavy coverage of the Ohio State University football team.
Arts & Life 
Arts, Entertainment and Living Section. Includes comics (printed in full color in all daily editions).
Classifieds 
Home, auto, jobs, other classified advertising.

In addition to these sections, various work week editions include special sections such as:

BusinessMonday 
Special Monday business section featuring long-format articles and advice.
Mosaic 
Section highlighting Cleveland's cultural diversity.
Taste 
Recipes and reviews of food, area restaurants, and food-related events.
Inside and Out 
Home and garden section, with articles relating to home improvement and decoration.
The Locker Room
High school sports insert section with human interest pieces on area high school athletes in a variety of sports.
Friday! Magazine 
Recently revamped weekend magazine featuring movie reveiews, event calendars, restaurant reviews and other cultural / nightlife pieces.
Real Estate 
Insert section highlighting area real estate and communities to live in.
Golf Monday 
Is a section dedicated to golf. It debuted on April 7, 2003.

and other sections.

[edit] Plain Dealer Sunday

Sunday editions include, in addition to the major sections above:

Driving 
special section on driving and automobile reviews.
Travel 
detailing travel tips.
PDQ 
"lighter" feature section aimed at younger readers.
Homes 
detailing homes in the area and housing trends.
Sunday Arts 
expanded arts section.
BigCollegeSunday 
college football section, focusing on Ohio State.

[edit] Discontinued Sections

The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine 
was discontinued as of December 18, 2005

[edit] Style

The Plain Dealer employs a modern styling of a daily newspaper, and the P.D. itself has undergone dramatic stylistic changes in the past few years to update the print edition's look. The Sunday edition was known as Plain Dealer Sunday, while weekday editions were The Plain Dealer, however in recent weeks the paper has standardized its masthead as "The Plain Dealer" across all editions. Sunday is also more colorful and includes many one-time special sections with full page graphics, pictures, and other content. Weekday and Sunday editions regularly feature front pages with content boxes on the upper part of the page detailing news inside. The physical width of the paper has been reduced in recent years as well, a trend throughout the newspaper industry.

[edit] Employees

[edit] Executive staff and editors

  • Terrance C.Z. Egger, President and Publisher
  • Robert M. Long, Executive Vice President
  • Douglas C. Clifton, Editor
  • Tom O'Hara, Managing Editor
  • Brent Larkin, Opinion Editor
  • Ted Diadiun, Reader Representative (ombudsman)
  • Elizabeth McIntyre, Assistant Managing Editor/Metro
  • Chris Quinn, Metro Editor
  • Debbie Van Tassel, Assistant Managing Editor/Features
  • Paul O'Donnell, Business Editor
  • Kathy Kroll, National Editor
  • Daryl Kannberg, Page One Editor
  • Roy Hewitt, Sports Editor
  • Chris Jindra, Sunday Editor
  • David Kordalski, Visual Editor
  • Kim Crow, Style Editor
  • Stuart Warner, Projects Editor/Writing Coach

[edit] Columnists

  • Tony Brown, theater
  • John Campanelli, pop culture
  • Joe Crea, food
  • Kim Crow, fashion
  • Sam Fulwood III
  • Dick Feagler
  • Regina Brett
  • Brent Larkin
  • Bill Lubinger, restaurants
  • Phillip Morris
  • Kevin O'Brien
  • Donald Rosenberg, orchestra
  • Chris Sheridan
  • John Soeder, pop music
  • Elizabeth Sullivan
  • Bill Livingston, Sports
  • Bud Shaw, Sports
  • Connie Schultz
  • Michael Heaton, Minister of Culture
  • Sheryl Harris, Consumer Affairs
  • Teresa Dixon Murray, Personal Finance
  • John Kroll, Weekend Diary (podcast)

[edit] Criticism and Controversies

[edit] Political leanings

The Plain Dealer has been criticized by liberal columnists for staking out generally conservative positions on its editorial page, despite the heavy Democratic tilt of its Northeast Ohio readership. In 2004, most notoriously, the publisher decided to endorse no candidate rather than endorse John Kerry as the editorial board had recommended. [16] The news coverage is generally more neutral, with national and international news often culled from wire services, including the New York Times and Washington Post.

The paper has also been accused of being too soft on Sen. George Voinovich, and in the 2004 election cycle for the U.S. Senate, not providing fair coverage, if any, to Voinovich's opponent, State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Democrat.[17]

[edit] Publishing concealed weapons permit holder lists

In 2005, the newspaper twice published lists of concealed weapon permit holders from the 5 counties around Cleveland. Editor Doug Clifton defended the paper's decision, sparking a feud with a pro-carry lobbyist group.[18] State Senator Steve Austria called it abuse of the media access privilege, saying publishing these names would threaten the safety of the men and women who obtain these permits. An Ohio gun rights group then published Mr. Clifton's home address and phone number.[19]

[edit] "Held stories" controversy

The Plain Dealer made national headlines in the summer of 2005, when editor Douglas Clifton announced that the newspaper was withholding two stories "of profound importance" after Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine were ordered to reveal confidential sources who had provided information on Joseph Wilson's wife being a CIA operative. The decision to compel the reporters to reveal sources was seen in the news media as a license to go after reporters and newspapers in the courtroom for not revealing confidential informants and a violation of the trust between reporter and said informants. Clifton was vilified in the news media as "having no backbone" and he himself even admitted that people could refer to him as "chickenshit." Clifton told the national press that while he and the reporters involved in the story were willing to be jailed for not revealing sources, the legal department of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company was worried that the newspaper itself would be sued and strongly opposed the printing of the stories. "Talking isn't an option and jail is too high a price to pay", Clifton said.[20] The controversy ended when the Cleveland Scene, an alternative weekly Cleveland newspaper, published a similar story, thus allowing The Plain Dealer to print the withheld story. The story turned out to be on former Mayor Michael R. White's federal corruption probe, which was leaked to the press by an attorney on the case. The second withheld story has yet to be revealed.[21]

[edit] Theater Critic Assaulted

In late 2006, the head of the Cleveland Play House assaulted theater reviewer Anthony Brown after a negative review of a Play House play.[22]

[edit] Cleveland.com

The Plain Dealer is the major news contributor to Cleveland.com, the regional news, event, and communication portal run by Advance Internet. The paper does not operate its own editorial website, but does run a separate website for the business side of the newspaper, including advertising. Cleveland.com also features news from WKYC-TV, the local NBC affiliate, and the Sun Newspapers, which are a group of smaller, weekly, more suburban-oriented newspapers in the Greater Cleveland metro area also owned by Advance Publications. The Sun Newspapers are the largest chain of paid weekly newspapers in the country.

The quality of the site (as well as other Advance Internet sites) is regularly criticized by the staff, including Editor Doug Clifton, newsroom staff and locals.[23]

[edit] Trivia

[edit] References

  1. ↑  Editor & Publisher International Year Book 2004.
  2. ↑  Scarborough Research, May 2006. Retrieved November 27, 2006.
  3. ↑  Scarborough Research Multi-Market Study R2, Nov. 2003; Demographics USA 2003. Retrieved March 21, 2006.
  4. ↑  Columbua Journalism Review (2005). [24] Who Owns What. Retrieved June 5th, 2006.
  5. ↑  Crain's Cleveland Business Book of Lists 2005. "Largest Cuyahoga County Employers".
  6. ↑  "Plain Dealer editor retiring", The Plain Dealer, Jan. 19 2007. [25]
  7. ↑  Cleveland: Confused City on a See-saw (Electronic Edition). [26] Philip W. Porter, 1976. Pages 234-235.
  8. ↑  Cleveland: Confused City on a See-saw (Electronic Edition). [27] Philip W. Porter, 1976. Page 10.
  9. ↑  The Pulitzer Prizes (2005) [28]. Retrieved June 5th, 2006.
  10. ↑  The Pulitzer Prizes (1953) [29]. Retrieved June 5th, 2006.
  11. ↑  "Newspaper circulation declines", Seth Sutel, October 31, 2006. [30].
  12. ↑  "It's Time To Do What Feels Right", Connie Schultz, February 16, 2006. [31]. Retrieved June 5th, 2006.
  13. ↑  "The Plain Dealer kills off Sunday Magazine", Editor and Publisher, December 2005.
  14. ↑  "For the Record", Presstime, September 2004, Reggie Borges.
  15. ↑  "WHO HAS YOUR BACK? Journalism in the Corporate Age", Columbia Journalism Review, September 2005.
  16. ↑  "Keeping reporters' notes out of court", The American Editor, August 2005 - October 2005, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. Pam Luecke, Author.
  17. ↑  "The New Dealer", Cleveland Magazine, Jan 2006. [32]

[edit] External links

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